6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
T.S. Spivet lives on a ranch in Montana with his mother who is obsessed with the morphology of beetles, his father (a cowboy born a hundred years too late) and his 14 year-old sister who dreams of becoming Miss America. T.S. is a 12 year-old prodigy with a passion for cartography and scientific inventions. One day, he receives an unexpected call from the Smithsonian museum telling him that he is the winner of the very prestigious Baird prize for his discovery of the perpetual motion machine and that he is invited to a reception in his honor where he is expected to give a speech. Without telling anyone, he sets out on a freight train across the U.S.A. to reach Washington DC.
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Kyle Catlett, Julian Richings, Judy Davis, Niamh WilsonFamily | 100% |
Adventure | 94% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Audio commentary tracks on Blu-ray releases can often be a hit or miss affair, but if you’d like an unabashedly entertaining “chat” with an actor, I’d heartily recommend Ron Perlman’s ripostes in the commentary on Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s The City of Lost Children (Jeunet himself is the other participant). As Jeunet, already stumbling due to his self confessed inability to speak English very well, starts talking about how hard the opening of City of Lost Children is to understand, Perlman kind of quietly offers a funny rejoinder. "Also the middle, and the ending," Perlman interjects without missing a beat. Since Perlman has obviously worked with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it’s perhaps best to accept his insight into the frequently bizarre but just as often amazingly beautiful and whimsical cinematic worlds Jeunet has managed to create with a surprisingly small number of features to his credit. Most folks may recognize Jeunet’s name (if they recognize it at all, that is) from his celebrated Amélie , but the director is also responsible for the somewhat darker Delicatessen, as well as Micmacs and A Very Long Engagement (still sadly missing on domestic Blu-ray). If you’ve never seen a Jeunet film, there’s nothing quite like them, with an often staggering visual virtuosity blended (at least in several if not all of his films) with magical realist elements that border on the surreal at times. The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet would seem to be anchored in more of a down to earth reality than efforts like The City of Lost Children or Amélie, but that’s probably ultimately an illusion, since the film details the adventures of a ten year old wunderkind who has managed to create a perpetual motion machine and who takes off on a quixotic journey to receive a prize from the Smithsonian Institution. The film builds up to an unexpectedly emotional climax due to some subplots which will be detailed below (so spoiler warning for anyone not wanting some salient plot points to be revealed), but the film retains Jeunet’s breathtaking visual style while offering newcomer Kyle Catlett a great showcase as the titular young wizard of rural Montana.
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Starz / Anchor Bay with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. The film was shot with Arri Alexa cameras and was given a 3D release in at least some markets, but the Blu-ray offers only a 2D version. While it's obvious that some scenes were designed specifically to exploit "in your face" elements (see screenshot 8 for an example), generally speaking the 2D version suffices extremely well, especially considering the breathtaking visuals on display. Jeunet and cinematographer Thomas Hardmeier (a César winner for this film) lovingly detail the gorgeous scenery not just of the (supposed) Montana ranch where the Spivet family lives, but (later) the unbelievable scenery T.S. passes through on his way to our nation's capital. The image is consistently sharp and well detailed throughout the presentation, with excellent fine detail on display throughout many close-ups. Some relative softness intrudes with regard to some of the CGI, and there are a couple of brief scenes in dim lighting in an RV that T.S. hides out in that don't offer much in the way of shadow detail, but otherwise this is a really stunning looking presentation.
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one which derives much of its surround activity from the glut of environmental effects that accompany T.S.'s unlikely journey. The rumble of the train he sneaks on to has some good panning effects, and when he ventures outside on several occasion, there's good attention paid to spatial placement of various sound effects. Dennis Sanacore's score also resides in the side and rear channels effectively. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, with good prioritization.
I'm a big fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, even when I can't ignore his tendency to indulge in certain excesses in both narrative approach and (especially) his visual sense. That may have made me more prone to like The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet than those not as enamored of this particular director, but that said, for those who either haven't experienced a Jeunet film or who aren't that impressed with him, this particular film might be the perfect place to start (or start over, as the case may be). The character of T.S. is almost instantly adorable, brought to life very winningly by an impressive Catlett, and the film, while a little bumpy here and there, is gorgeous to look at and, ultimately, quite touching. Technical merits are strong, and The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet comes Highly recommended.
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